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Annual Shareholders Meeting 2017


whiterose

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Hey Guys,

I'm contemplating going to the annual meeting in 2017, despite the live-streaming which will be available again I guess. The question is since I'm based in europe, what is the best route to travel to Omaha? Fly to a nearby bigger city and then go by rental car or train or bus? What are your experiences from the last times you went?

Any advice is much appreciated.

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I'm a day and a half drive from Omaha and generally drive to the meeting. It's pretty cheap that way and on the way back I generally stop in Chicago for a few days to take in the city and do some client entertaining.

 

Flying into Omaha around the meeting is expensive. It much cheaper to fly somewhere else and drive in. Places you could fly in are Chicago (about a day drive to Omaha), Des Moines (2 hour drive), or Kansas City (3-4 hour drive). I guess you'll have to look at prices and times and figure out what's best for you.

 

One piece of advice I can give you is to book EARLY. Especially the hotel. Otherwise you'll end up staying in a dump and pay a lot for the privilege. The downtown hotels are pretty expensive. If you're not fixated on being downtown. I'd recommend the Sheraton Omaha at 655 N 108 Ave. It's a nice hotel, price is good, it's close to Borsheim's, free parking, has a shuttle to ChenturyLink Center (15-20 minutes) and has free breakfast and other freebies for BRK shareholders.

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This will be my 12th consecutive year going so I've been around the block. Get your ticket early if you want to fly. The last 4 years I've road tripped out there from the east coast.

 

La Quinta is pretty good in Carter Lake, Iowa.

 

Some other good places are the Double Tree in Omaha & The Marriot on Regency Circle

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  • 1 month later...

I am so fed up paying up my nose for hotels in Omaha

Here here! Between hotel rates, airline rates, and idiots using half the meeting time to ask the same "greatest hits" questions that you can answer with a 3 second google search it's not really worth it anymore. I skipped last year's and will probably skip this year's. Seriously why go through all the time and expense of going to omaha and ask a useless question. Why not ask something productive?

 

Ok. Enough of my rant. A useful bit of information. If you're road tripping from the east or north east there's a boat casino in Quad Cities that has a very decent hotel (they call it 4 star) where you can stay for $20 if you sign up for a players' card. You don't actually have to deposit anything or even play, just to give them an email address. Omaha is a 400 mile drive from there.

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Guest longinvestor

I am so fed up paying up my nose for hotels in Omaha

Here here! Between hotel rates, airline rates, and idiots using half the meeting time to ask the same "greatest hits" questions that you can answer with a 3 second google search it's not really worth it anymore. I skipped last year's and will probably skip this year's. Seriously why go through all the time and expense of going to omaha and ask a useless question. Why not ask something productive?

 

Ok. Enough of my rant. A useful bit of information. If you're road tripping from the east or north east there's a boat casino in Quad Cities that has a very decent hotel (they call it 4 star) where you can stay for $20 if you sign up for a players' card. You don't actually have to deposit anything or even play, just to give them an email address. Omaha is a 400 mile drive from there.

 

Regarding questions, I found that the questions asked by the analysts and  the journalists were the most disappointing. Given the current format, that's 2/3 of the questions. This after they receive and get to preselect the questions. In a sense, the body of the analyst questions reinforces Munger's "idiot behavior" rampant in the market. The naivete of the audience questions is understandable. Some great questions came from the audience.

 

Wish they would include the likes of Tom Russo or Chris Davis on the panel. They are heavily vested in the longer term of Berkshire. They share my interest in understanding the real risks.

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Wish they would include the likes of Tom Russo or Chris Davis on the panel. They are heavily vested in the longer term of Berkshire. They share my interest in understanding the real risks.

 

I and several others talked about this last year - instead of having Wall Street equity analysts, why not a panel of value oriented hedge fund managers? I think Pabrai, Tilson, or even someone like Ackman would be happy to sit on a panel. I don't why this hasn't happened yet as I think it's a win win for everyone (except the equity analysts!). I think I'm going to write Buffett a letter suggesting this format.

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OK guys, way to spoil it for the rest of us.  It's like watching the pope from St. Peter's square vs on TV - not quite the same.  The trip ain't exactly cheap, but it's cheaper than just about other annual meeting you might go to if you're willing to book a discount airline and hotel 15 minutes away from downtown.

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